LEGENDS: This is How Hearts Soar
by Catheryne
Summary: Oliver misses a trip to the aquarium. There are those coming back to the fold and new additions too.


**LEGENDS: This is How Hearts Soar **

byCatheryne / tennysonslady

AN: Wow. It's the tenth of the series. I thought it was time to introduce a couple more legends into the universe. This was supposed to be a simple and straightforward premise, but apparently longer in execution.

Summary: Oliver misses a trip to the aquarium. There are those coming back to the fold and new additions too.

Pairing: Chlollie

Characters: Chloe, Oliver, Connor, Clark, Lois, AC, Mia  
Rating: PG13

This is How Marriages End  
This is How Families Grow  
This is How Friendships Last  
This is How Oliver Survives  
This is How Lois Becomes  
This is How Shadows Conceal  
This is How Mothers Talk  
This is How Walls Crumble  
This is How Lives Begin

**This is How Hearts Soar**

When she said it again, she told him in a moment when he could not resist her. He had been reading from a hardbound book with illustrations of bears and a little boy, and the Mama Bear was holding the tiny human in her arms while the Papa Bear looked on fondly. Disney picture books always had its way of disarming him. Maybe it was because Oliver still remembered film showings of the Jungle Book in the Queen home theatre reserved whenever his father came home from a long trip, and all those afternoons when his mother snuck storybooks of Cinderella and the Sleeping Beauty, and read fairy tales to Oliver when his father was caught in a particularly long conference.

From his father Oliver had learned of adventure, of protectiveness, of a man's role to provide security.

From his mother Oliver learned idealism, perfection, and that concept of romance that went over the heads of the other boys in Excelsior. From his mother Oliver found out that love was eternal.

And so reading the Tarzan picture book to Connor, while Chloe lay down beside him on the bed and looked up at him with those shining green eyes, Oliver was completely vulnerable.

"I will protect you from all around you," he had read, and Oliver marvelled at the way that Connor's eyes drooped in exhaustion. He watched, fascinated, as Chloe nuzzled her nose against his son's ear. "I will be here, don't you cry, sang the mother bear."

She did sometimes make fun of how utterly traditional and conservative he leaned in their family life, when in everything else Oliver Queen was the liberal embodiment of America's heroes.

The boy fell asleep, and Oliver closed the book and set it aside on the bedside table. Chloe smiled up at him, but did not get up from the bed. "No. I'm exhausted. I just want to sleep here." She yawned, then said to him, "When Dinah comes home tomorrow night, I'm going back to Watchtower."

The statement was full to overflowing with reaction, but her response to giving back the boy who had been—if not by name then by everything else—her son was not a topic for conversation. Oliver nodded. The League would serve to fill the void that Connor would leave. "I'll update the security and make sure Watchtower is ready for you."

She would be linking to the database from the Star City headquarters, and he would make sure the transition was as smooth as it could be.

Chloe's fingers played with the tufts of blond hair on Connor's temple. Her voice was soft when she said, "I'll take Connor out tomorrow morning." She was going to miss the kid. It was evident in her voice. "We'll have breakfast at the beach. Then I'll take Connor to the aquarium. He's wanted to visit since he saw the commercial on tv that showed the sharks swimming over head, right above the fiber glass tunnel."

He had scheduled the review of the revisions to his will the next morning. With the amount of assets that were listed, it had taken long for his legal team to complete the draft. And Oliver needed everything filed as soon as possible. "I'd like to join you for lunch."

Chloe gave a mock disappointed sigh. "Too busy for the aquarium?"

"I can suggest a more suitable tour guide. Which three year old would ever have Aquaman accompany him to the aquarium?" he asked. Oliver stood and leaned over the bed, then kissed her. "It took a long time to marry you," he reminded her. "I have to make sure that feat is reflected in every single one of my documents as soon as possible."

The fear in her eyes appeared quickly, and was just as quickly chased away. He shook his head, the silent gesture familiar, and he hoped comforting. The very thought of a will made her fearful, brought back thoughts of worlds she had seen but never wanted to tell him. Once, she told him, in that one world where she had killed him, Tresser found Oliver Queen's will buried in the archives of Queen Industries. The will had placed the Queen estate in charitable trust.

In this world, she was his wife. He had worked long and hard to call her that, and no mistake or accident would keep her from what was hers.

"I promise I'll join you immediately after that."

The next day saw him break his promise. Through the meeting with his lawyers Oliver glanced several times at the time, and when the lawyers offered to meet again later on Oliver insisted on finishing the review and filing the papers. At least before he needed to return Lois' calls, Oliver would perform due diligence and ensure the papers were submitted. When finally the amendments were finalized, Oliver grabbed his car keys and opened the door.

"Mr Queen, you have an unscheduled—"

"I can't." Oliver stopped when he saw the young woman rise from her seat. He blinked at the sight, so strange and unexpected now that she seemed like an apparition. He licked his lips. If he had been carrying anything he was sure he would have dropped it. "Mia," he said in recognition. 

She had left a few months after Chloe disappeared, and there she was—five years older, more beautiful, paler, sadder. A surge of protectiveness and a wave of pride washed over him. Dinah had once postulated that the lack of communication from the once troubled girl might mean she had continued the downward spiral she was in before Oliver came into her life. But there she was. He always knew she was a survivor.

Oliver blinked, then nodded. "Hold my calls," he said to his assistant. Oliver stepped aside and waved for Mia to enter his office.

Mia made her way to the center of the room. Oliver shut the door behind her.

"You're alive," he said, his voice wry.

"So are you," the girl—no, not a girl anymore—the young woman returned with enough bite. "At the state you were in before I left, I was half sure you would be dead by now."

He looked at her, studied her, noted the strong stance with which she stood, the set of her shoulders, even the firmness of her voice. He shook his head. In many regards this was the child he had before he even had Connor.

"So what brings you back, Mia?" he asked quietly. "Is there anything you need?" Unnecessary. Whatever help she needed, Oliver was sure any one of the League would do it. Mia lowered her head. "Is there a problem?"

She blinked away tears, then cleared her throat. Her back straightened. "Nothing you can help with," Mia answered. "I just thought—" Oliver saw her throat work when she swallowed. "Well I wanted to see you again."

Despite the bravado, Oliver knew his mentee was afraid. Sooner or later, she would tell him about it. He would put his faith in her that way. But he recognized the gravity of her problem in the way she moved. He held up a hand for silence, then dialled Chloe's number. He left a message that he was held up and would be unable to join for lunch. "I love you."

Her gaze fell to his hand. She nodded at his wedding ring. "A new one?"

"I'm sure you've read all about it."

She gave a sad smile. "Believe it or not, I haven't been able to follow any news." She shrugged. "But I knew that was new. It looks like a good fit."

"It is," Oliver admitted. He turned the ring around his finger.

"The last one was far too loose." She gave him a lopsided smile. "Even though you insisted it was good enough."

Mia always had his number, had him pegged. He missed having her around, because she was comfortable enough to call him out. Oliver asked, "Why did you suddenly vanish?" He could not keep the trace of hurt, the feelings of betrayal from creeping in.

And she was honest when she answered him. Oliver wished she could have held back just a little then. "I couldn't watch you destroy yourself the way you were doing those last few months."

But she had survived, saw him through those months of self-destruction, the neverending nights searching, those entire days lost when he stood over the desolate gravestone, those drunken blank weeks. Mia survived them all. What destruction, he wondered, did the girl think of? When she left, Oliver saw he had picked his life back together. After all, he left the day he married Dinah.

"I want you to meet my son," he said abruptly. Mia's eye shone in excitement. "Let me see where they are." Oliver noticed the message waiting indicator, and played his messages.

"Hey I got your message. I hope everything's okay." Oliver glanced towards Mia, who listened to the message as well. Oliver could not help the smile that curved his lips at the sound of her voice. "We're in the aquarium now." The message was probably left even before his conversation with Mia. "AC is here so we're safe. He got Connor some flash cards with different sea animals and your son is so excited to have his Uncle Arthur name everything for him. AC is giving nicknames to everything." Oliver heard Connor's laughter in the background. "Love you."

"You look happy," Mia said, her voice warm. "I'm relieved. Seeing you after—after she died-" she sighed. "It wasn't fun."

"It wasn't a fun time for me either, Mia," Oliver offered. He picked up his jacket. "I'm really happy to have you back," he told her. He was not going to hear about the problem that had sent Mia running back to him, that had made the young woman so sentimental that she would seek him out after leaving him in the dust. "If you don't mind… I'm late for a date."

"With your wife and your son," Mia completed. Oliver nodded, oddly pacified by how domesticated she had made him sound. "I'll drive."

Oliver shrugged then fished for the keys from his pants pocket. He tossed her his car keys. Mia caught them in one hand and beamed at her achievement. She gave a triumphant grin. Oliver chuckled. It was good to know that after five years gone Mia could still become a child around him.

Oliver dialled Chloe from the car while Mia sped through the wide California roads. "We should find out where they headed for lunch so we can meet them directly there." The phone rang until it rolled to voicemail. Oliver tried again. "No answer." He tossed the phone onto the dashboard, then gave instructions to her to go to the aquarium.

The phone lit and alerted him in silence of the incoming call. Seeing Chloe's name on the screen relieved him. Oliver answered the call. "Chloe, where are you?" 

"We're on our way to the hospital," Chloe responded, her voice strained. Oliver sat forward in the passenger seat. "Connor was complaining of a stomach ache in the aquarium and then he got sick."

The kid had been high on excitement when he had heard him. Then again, kids overcame everything when they were high on adrenaline.

Oliver entered the hospital name on the GPS, and Mia's eyes fluttered to the directions on the screen as she maneuvered the car around. His heart thundered in his chest. Mia's hand rested on his sleeve.

"Let me talk to AC," he said softly.

Chloe passed the phone over to one of his best friends, and Oliver told him, as calmly as he could, "Take care of them. I'm on my way." At the affirmative response—and Oliver expected nothing less—Oliver continued, "How is he?"

"Surprisingly resilient," AC responded. Oliver filled with fatherly pride. "They think it's food poisoning so they took some blood. Didn't even cry." AC sighed. His voice fell. "You've got to talk to her when you get here. She insists she's fine but she's been having symptoms the entire trip too, even before Connor started complaining."

She was probably afraid to leave Connor alone to get her own test. But if she was healthy enough to walk around, Oliver would not start worrying. "I'll talk to her. See you in a few minutes."

It took eight minutes to reach the hospital, when to any other motorist it would have been a full twenty minute ride. After all, they had already driven the other direction. But Oliver was thankful for the brash way that his once change drove. He headed straight to the waiting area and saw Chloe standing over the drinking fountain. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Chloe turned around and blinked up at him in surprise.

At once he noticed her pallor, and recognized the concern that AC had. He cupped her jaw in his hands and felt the clamminess of her skin.

"The tests came back," she said softly. "It's food poisoning. The doctor gave Connor an injection to ease the spasms. Now they're just finishing the drip and we can take Connor home." Chloe glanced back towards the hospital room that Oliver assumed was his son's. She swallowed heavily. Oliver placed an arm around her waist when she weaved on her feet. "I'm so sorry, Ollie," she whispered. He could hear the heartbreak in her voice. He shook his head. He saw the recognition in her eyes when she spied Mia standing to the side. When she forced a smile, Oliver could see traces of AC's words emblazoned on her bloodless lips.

"You have to sit down," he said hoarsely, holding back on calling for a nurse right then. In her mind, Connor got his food poisoning under her watch. Taking charge was the most she could balance out the guilt.

"I already called Dinah and told her not to worry," Chloe rushed. She turned towards the room. "I'll sit with him. The drip should be done soon. Why don't you go take care of the discharge?"

Oliver nodded. He peeked into his son's room and saw Chloe sit down heavily on the seat beside the bed. Without instructions, Mia told him quietly, "I'll stay with them. You fix everything else."

And so Oliver listened to the instructions on Connor's care and signed the release forms for his son's discharge. AC stood beside him and established the reasons he had for thinking that Chloe was lying through her teeth—from the nausea that was evident on her face when they climbed up the steps to see the tube of stingrays to the way that she had excused herself to the bathroom at the shark-feeding show.

"She says she didn't have what Connor had for breakfast because she couldn't even eat at all this morning," AC offered. "She just had some coffee."

To his chagrin, despite his concern, Oliver was amused that her reason for insisting she was healthy was the unhealthiest rationale of all.

When Connor was discharged, and Chloe still maintained that she was not affected by Connor's food poisoning, Oliver moved to take his son. Connor, as fickle as his loyalties were, put up a weak and unfair fight. The boy reached out little arms to his Aunt Chloe and insisted to be carried only by his Aunt Chloe.

"Connor," Oliver said in gentle disagreement when Chloe grunted softly as Connor's arms and legs wrapped around Chloe's body. "Aunt Chloe's tired." He told her, "I can take him."

"It's fine," Chloe answered, holding on just as tightly to the boy. He could see it in her eyes. She was not letting go of Connor for a mistake for which she took on the blame.

He sighed, and the party waited at the lobby as he went to get the car. Parking was full and crowded, and it took him some time to drive past the cars that waited in the narrow spaces before he made his way back. These were the times when he thought he should have been just like many others in his station. He wished he could forget the independence he had gotten in the island and hired a driver to service him so he would not need to be away from his family for more than a second.

His eyes narrowed when he neared the lobby and saw only Mia clutching Connor, who fidgeted and cried in her arms. Oliver parked the car to the side and rushed out.

Mia was breathless when she said, "She just—she handed him over to me and collapsed." Oliver placed a soothing hand on Connor's back. He took his son from Mia's arms and forced himself to remain calm. "AC took her back inside."

He was going to sue the damned restaurant where they had breakfast. In fact, to make it faster, he would buy the damn thing and send a wrecker in the morning.

Oliver strode back into the hospital and saw AC standing outside a curtained off area for emergency. "I'll stay with her," Oliver told his friend. "Can you—" Oliver hesitated. "Can you take Connor and Mia to my place? Passcode's still the same." AC nodded. "Key's still in the ignition. AC—"

What Oliver loved about his team was that most of the team he did not need to ask. This was no exception. AC answered, "I'll stay with them until you guys get back." It was AC's turn to patrol Star City, but he knew AC would make arrangements for coverage too.

Oliver stepped into the curtained area where Chloe had temporarily been placed. AC had provided her details, and Oliver did not doubt that a room was being prepared for her now by virtue of her name. A young nurse had prepared the syringe to extract blood. Before long, Oliver recognized the chief of medicine step in to take the nurse's place.

"Mr Queen," was the doctor's greeting. "We're moving your wife right after we get a sample to test for toxins in her bloodstream."

"That works," Oliver murmured. He took a deep breath, concerned about the pallor on Chloe's face. He gripped her hand when they took her blood.

"We don't discount the possibility that she just fainted at the stress of taking your son here."

Armed with AC's narrative Oliver offered, "She's been having symptoms even before Connor was taken here."

The transfer to the room was handled as quickly and efficiently as possible. Oliver found himself next sitting on a comfortable seat in the hospital suite. She had woken in the elevator during the transfer, and at the panicked expression on her face, Oliver leaned down over her bed and assured her that Connor was at home with Mia and AC. She closed her eyes and lay back down in the bed.

Even back then before she disappeared, Chloe had always needed his calming words to soothe tension. Back then it was the end of the world, and he assured her of his presence. Oliver wondered exactly what damage all the universes she had seen had made on her concept of fear, of what made her panic.

"You don't need to worry," he said to her. Watchtower? Watchtower was out. Not when they did not know what the problem was. "We're a team, remember?" he said, familiar words, hopefully words that she would trust.

She opened her eyes and Oliver wanted to drown in the tears that gathered in them. Today was supposed to be a fun, exciting sendoff for Connor, just before Dinah came home and they returned to weekends with the boy. Instead it was horror upon horror. "What's wrong with me?"

The question had been bothering him as well, but Oliver merely smiled and said, "Nothing. You're perfect."

She turned her head and looked out the window. But it was just the Star City skyline from up where they were, a skyline he had wanted to share with her when they were playing a game, a skyline that was now a fixture of their lives with the view they had from their bedroom.

"Sometimes I wonder if I hurt myself jumping," she said, her voice empty, vacant.

But Oliver could not respond to that. Not when it took all he had not to open that folder that Lois had sent him after they left the farm.

"Do you know in one of those worlds—it was the one I hated the most—"

Oliver wondered if he should pull her from this, and at the same time he wanted to know what worlds he saw so he would better understand his wife.

"In one of those worlds I died. After the trade, I really died. But you eventually became happy. With Dinah, with Connor." She swallowed. "Even though you think something is just a disaster that you can't recover from, eventually everyone becomes happy again."

If it was a message to him, he was not pleased with it. The rapid knock on the door was enough reason for him to stand. He opened the door. Upon seeing the new arrivals, Oliver stepped outside and closed the door behind him.

"I'm sorry," were the first words out of Clark's mouth. "She overheard AC's call when he asked me to cover his patrol."

Lois moved forward, and Oliver blocked her way with his arm. Lois set her jaw and jutted out her chin. "Now I'm not allowed to see my own cousin when she's sick?" Lois demanded.

"I don't want you upsetting her while we're waiting," Oliver established.

"She and I may not agree on some things but I am still Chloe's only relative here," she declared. It was a card that she would always play, the only one that trumped any other card he had. But Oliver respected that card. As the last one left in his family, the relative card worked amazingly well. Oliver lowered his arm. Lois shook her head. "You don't know how pissed off I am that I'm not even your first call. Do you think a fight takes away the need for that courtesy?"

"The first concern we had was who would stay with my son," Oliver told her. "Why don't you offer to stay with Connor, Lois?"

Lois narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't push it. My family is Chloe." Lois glanced at the notes on the door. Her gaze fell to Oliver's ring. Oliver fisted his hand. "Mrs Queen," she commented. "When I first read about it I thought it was tabloid fodder because my little cousin was not going to get married without me. And if she was too emotional to think of that then maybe you—one of my closest friends—would at least make sure I was invited. But you got married."

"We did."

"My little cousin is married."

Oliver swallowed. "Lois—"

"I won't say a thing." Oliver watched helplessly as Lois pushed her way into the suite.

It said a lot about fear, Oliver thought, that once Chloe saw Lois, despite the tense and hurtful way they had parted the last time they saw each other, his wife sat up on the bed and opened her arms. The tension in his shoulders eased when Chloe hugged Lois tightly, and Lois burst into tears. "I'll have you know," Lois blubbered, "I would have been here sooner if only your brute of a bodyguard there didn't block the door."

"Ollie," Chloe said in disbelief, "did you really block the door?"

And despite the horrendous exaggeration, Oliver was thankful that Lois had drawn Chloe out of her reverie on the many different worlds—one of which was a place where he was happy without her. He wondered if she hadn't really seen the start of his marriage to Dinah, when he convinced himself he would be happy and content. Without a doubt, whichever world that Oliver was, he knew eventually the marriage fractured and broke apart.

Happiness, he had found after years of denial, was not merely a decision to be made.

There was a flurry of apologies and heartfelt embraces. But never once, Oliver noticed, did Lois commit to dropping her single-minded obsession to reach Rokk. And never once, despite the way that Chloe told her cousin that she would have wanted her in her wedding, did Chloe mention that she agreed with Lois' opinion on how she lived her life.

When the doctor arrived, Oliver asked Lois and Clark to step outside. Despite Lois silent protest, Clark pulled his wife out of the hospital suite to give Chloe and Oliver some privacy. Oliver stood beside the bed. He covered her hand in his and she turned her hand around and twined their fingers.

"The good news is that there are no toxins in your blood. You don't have food poisoning."

Chloe sat up on the bed. Her grip tightened on Oliver's hand.

The doctor looked up. "I thought you might be happy about that."

"What's wrong with me?" Chloe asked directly.

"Stress," the doctor offered. "That and, from the looks of your blood work, Mrs Queen, your HcG levels are above normal. Those two are not an ideal combination. You should take it easy. When was your last period?"

Oliver literally felt the moment his heart stopped beating. The room dropped into silence, and then it seemed that the words out of the doctor's and Chloe's mouths came through slowly, in a low pitch echoing distorted noise. He sat on the side of Chloe's bed, and he felt her hand running up and down his back.

When the blood had settled from his head, and he could hear again, Oliver heard the doctor say, "From the blood work I'm 99% sure. I'd like to do a simple check to be a hundred percent."

Chloe turned wide, surprised eyes at Oliver. He took a deep breath and told himself to take a measure of control. Oliver kissed her temple and took a calming breath, then he stood. He was drowning. His heart beat fast, and his throat closed.

"What kind of test?" Oliver asked quietly, and even that was an effort.

The doctor took out a handheld device and talked through the procedure, then handed them each a pair of earbuds before inserting his. It was the type of service that a Queen expected, and Oliver watched in rapt attention as the doctor spread the clear gel on her belly. She gasped, and when he glanced at her in concern she assured him, "It's cold." He shook his head, still wading in the possibility. The doctor placed the probe right below her navel and slowly moved it over her belly.

Chloe gasped. Oliver heard the rapid sounds that seemed to come from underwater until he realized that was exactly what they were hoping to hear.

"Add that one percent to the ninety nine. There's your baby."

Oliver swore he was going to get one of those miracles, even if it cost him the company. He turned to Chloe and gave her and openmouthed kiss.

The probe slid lower, a few inches to the right. Oliver chuckled softly at the sound, even louder now, so strong. So obviously Watchtower's. He caught sight of the doctor's frown before Chloe did, and he did not raise a question. Whatever it was, he would allow Chloe to stay in her bubble of ecstasy for as long as he could. Instead his marksman's gaze focused on every shift of the doctor's expression as the man slowly dragged the probe back to its original position.

And the heartbeat was strong and steady. It grew faint as he moved back to the lower right of her abdomen, but grew louder and clearer once more.

He took off the earbuds. Oliver demanded an answer through the look in his eyes. As much as possible, if there was bad news he wanted to hear it first, but there was no getting around it.

And then, from the bed, he heard her say in wonder, "Two."

The doctor nodded. "That's right." The doctor spoke about the hormones in her system, the stress that needed to be controlled, and the exhaustion she should expect. But the only word that rang over and over in his head was Chloe's whispered, "Two."

They were faceless, mere sounds he heard for a few minutes. And yet his heart swelled with a surge of emotions only for them.

He took a shuddering breath. He was not going to perform, to take control. Not today. Despite the role that his father had drilled into his head, Oliver was just grateful he managed to stay upright. The doctor left to file the discharge request, and he felt Chloe tug at his hand.

And she was beautiful, despite the pallor and exhaustion on her face.

And he loved her, worshipped her, adored her.

But all he could say was, "Two."

So he crawled into the bed and lay down beside her. His body trembled at the rush. Oliver held tightly to her and rested his head on her arm. His legs hung off the bed, but he did not care.

"Who do we tell first?" he whispered.

"Give me your phone."

And he would have jumped off the building if that was what she wanted now. He fished in his pocket for his phone and handed it to her. Oliver closed his eyes and placed a warming hand on her belly, tried to recall the sounds of the hearts beating under her skin.

"Mia. I'm fine. Thank you," he heard Chloe say. "Can I talk to Connor?" There was a pause. He felt her fingers playing with the hair at his nape. "Hey sweetheart," Chloe said cheerfully. "I know. I'm sorry I scared you. I'm okay now. I just got sick like you did."

Even while the phone was not on speaker, Oliver's son was passionate enough that he heard his cry of "Why?"

"I'll get sick and tired a lot, but it's only because I'm making the best gifts in the world," she told the little boy. "We're going to have new babies, daddy and me. We don't know yet. They're too tiny for us to see. But remember, we love you so much."

And then, to Oliver's surprise, Chloe handed him the phone. "He wants to talk to you."

Oliver placed the phone against his ear, but did not move from the comfortable position he was in. Never mind that Lois and Clark waited outside to hear about what the doctor said. In their ranking they were definitely after Connor. "What's up, buddy? Yes, I heard what Aunt Chloe said. It's true."

His son's request made him chuckle. "We'll see what we can do, Connor. We'll see you in about an hour."

He hung up the phone, then gave Chloe a fat grin. "Connor would really like it if we can bring home girl babies—less chance that they'd take his dinos." Reluctantly, Oliver pulled himself up. "Obviously my son doesn't know how much stress he'll have keeping boys away if he has two younger sisters as hot as their mother."

He helped her up from the bed, and Chloe held up her blouse when Oliver took a hand towel from the bathroom and wiped off the remaining traces of gel from her skin. When her belly was dry, he dropped a kiss just below her navel. This was going to be a habit. He could feel it.

"I love you," he told her as he kissed her lips.

She returned the words, then said, "What would you bet that Mia and AC know by now?"

It had been about five minutes since Connor found out. The door burst open. "I'm the ninth person to know?" came Lois' exclamation. "I was right outside!"

Connor would tell Mia and AC. AC would have sent a message to Victor, Bart, Dinah, Jonn and Clark. Clark would tell Lois. Or Lois would snoop and find out. Ninth. It sounded about right. And the doctor, of course. But Oliver wasn't going to correct her and pull her down another rank.

So Oliver offered her one bit of news that he doubted Connor would have related clearly enough to the team. "We're having twins." And even though the proclamation was for Lois, the words coming from his own mouth were fantastic enough that he brought a grin to his own lips. He looked back at Chloe. She smiled, and he could see the hand that wore their engagement and wedding rings resting over her belly. His heart clenched.

No. Today he was not in control of anything at all.

If he thought he loved her yesterday…

He wondered when they would invent a word for what he felt today.

fin


End file.
